


Nighttime in the Book Shop

by Larry_Klaine_Stylinson



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Bookstore, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-07
Updated: 2013-04-07
Packaged: 2017-12-07 17:27:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/751119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Larry_Klaine_Stylinson/pseuds/Larry_Klaine_Stylinson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry has been working in a small used book shop for as long as he's been able to have a job. One night he and his co-worker Louis are left to close up the shop, but it's storming out, and they get trapped inside.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nighttime in the Book Shop

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written as a prompt fill on Tumblr.
> 
> The poem in this is called She Walks in Beauty and it was written by Lord Byron in 1814.

Harry had been working in the little used book store in the middle of town ever since he was old enough to get a job. He'd been just barely fifteen when he'd started working there, and he was going on twenty now. He loved it there. The smell of old books was one of his absolute favorite things in the whole world.

About five months ago his co-worker Michelle had moved out to London, and so it had just been Harry and the owner of the shop for a while, until they got a new employee about a month later. His name was Louis Tomlinson, and Harry took an immediate liking to him. He was kind and funny and easy to work with. He never complained about long hours or how much categorizing and organizing they had to do.

They were often on opposite sides of the store, each doing their own thing, but the book shop was small and so if they wanted to, they could talk to each other from across the store. They tended not to when customers were in, though, not wanting to disrupt them in their search for the perfect book.

They didn't have many books from the past decade, seeing as all of the books were previously owned. They'd get a few newer books here and there, however. Mostly things Harry had never heard of, which he figured was why they ended up here. They must not be all that great if the person who had bought them didn't want to keep them.

Harry was at the cash register now, helping their last customer of the night. His boss had left a few hours prior, although he usually closed the shop. He had dinner plans with his wife tonight, however, because it was their anniversary or something like that, and Harry and Louis had assured him that they could be trusted to close up the shop.

Harry rung up the six books from the woman and told her her total, taking the money from her when she handed it to him and opening up the cash register, putting her money in and taking out the correct amount of change. He handed it over to her, along with her books, and she looked outside, sighing heavily.

"The rain's really picked up since I came in."

"Here." Harry said, rummaging around in a small drawer behind the counter and finding some old newspaper. "You can use this to keep a bit of the rain off."

"Oh, thank you!" She smiled, taking the newspaper from him and quickly scurrying out to her car.

"Louis!" He called. "Louis, time to close up, it's nine!"

"Alright, Harry, alright. Let me just finish organizing these because someone moved them all around and I won't be able to sleep tonight if I don't fix them."

Harry chuckled to himself. If he was being completely honest, he'd grown quite fond of Louis over the past few months. A little fonder than he should really be of a co-worker, because he really didn't like the thought of becoming romantically involved with someone he worked with. Things like that generally just turned out messy and frustrating, didn't they?

But he couldn't deny that Louis was kind of adorable, and the fact that his passion for old books matched Harry's was something that Harry found quite nice. Not many people were as fascinated by old books as he was, nor did many people like to just stand there and breath in deeply, taking in the scent of old paper and leather. But Louis did. Louis loved all of that.

Harry couldn't really say he knew Louis very well. They didn't talk much about their lives or their families or their goals for the future, but they did talk about books, and Harry thought you could really learn a lot about a person from what books they liked, and Louis liked a lot of good books.

"Alright." Louis said, popping up behind Harry at the cash register. "Done. Let's lock up."

Just then the first loud crack of thunder from the storm shook the little shop, and the lights went out.

"Shit." Louis muttered.

Harry quickly walked over to the door, attempting to pull it open and finding his suspicions confirmed, "That new security system Mr. Porter put in has got the place locked up now." He sighed. "I told him we didn't need any fancy systems. Our old key locks were doing just fine. No one tries to break in here anyway."

"Harry, I can't see anything." Louis said, and he sounded just a little panicked.

"It's alright, Louis. It's okay." Harry assured him, rushing back from his place by the door. "We've got a flashlight and some candles in the back, okay? You stay here and I'll be right back."

"Okay." Louis said.

Harry rushed to the back, tripping over a box full of books that they hadn't found a place for yet, "Fuck." He muttered, moving a few things out of his way until he got to the little cabinet where Mr. Porter kept the candles and flashlights in case of emergencies like these. He grabbed them, along with a box of matches, and then he was on his way back to where Louis was standing, right by the cash register where he'd left him.

"We'll be stuck here until the power comes back." Harry said. "The storm's supposed to last at least a few hours, so we might as well get comfy."

The flashlight was on now, lighting up Louis' face in a light glow as he nodded.

"Want to go sit over there?" Harry asked, pointing to one side of the store where most of the good books were placed. "All the best books are over there. We can read."

"Sure." Louis smiled, picking up his bag from the floor. "I've got some biscuits and things in here. I always keep snacks with me. That's what comes of having little sisters."

Harry was pretty sure Louis had never mentioned having little sisters before, and he grasped on to the information, filing it away in his little "Louis" folder in his brain.

"My hero." Harry said. "Work always makes me a little hungry."

They walked over to the shelf with all of the best books, and plopped themselves down on the ground, setting up five candles and lighting them quickly.

"Be careful not to burn the books, Harry." Louis said.

"I would never!"

Louis chuckled and leaned his head back against the book shelf, and Harry couldn't help but smile at how pretty his face looked all lit up by the glowing candle light, his eyes looking just a bit brighter than usual.

"Give me some of those biscuits." Harry said, smiling.

Louis dug around in his bag, pulling out a little tin and handing it over to Harry who grabbed out a few of the little treats, setting them on his knee and popping one into his mouth.

"Thanks."

"Anytime." Louis said.

They sat there in silence for a while, Harry looking at Louis out of the corner of his eye, not wanting to stare, but really wanting to look at Louis' lovely face in the candlelight. And maybe he was being creepy, but he really couldn't be bothered to care.

"Read me something, Curly."

Harry smiled, because he used to get called Curly sometimes at school, but once he'd grown up no one had called him that, but Louis did, sometimes, when he was being teasing or funny, and Harry rather liked it.

He plucked a book off the shelf, and it was an old one with classic short stories, and he began to read, and Louis closed his eyes, seeming to be listening intently to what Harry was saying. After a while, though, Harry grew tired of listening to his own voice, and he decided he'd quite like to hear Louis drone on for a bit in that nice soft tone of his, so he tossed him the book.

"You read to me now."

"I want to nap." Louis whined.

"No no no, Louis. If we're stuck here you'd better at least be keeping me company."

"Fine." Louis huffed. "Feed me a biscuit and I'll read you a story."

Harry decided not to ask why Louis couldn't feed himself his own biscuit, because, if he was being honest, he'd love to feed Louis a snack, because couples did that sort of thing, and even if he and Louis weren't a couple, he'd still like to do cute couple-y things with him, because why not?

So he picked up the little tin and pulled out a biscuit, breaking it in half, feeding one half of it to Louis, who chewed happily, smiling like a small child.

"Read to me and then you can have the other half." Harry grinned.

"You ate five biscuits!" Louis shouted, indignantly.

"Doesn't matter. If I'm feeding you then you'll read me my story first."

"Fine." Louis sighed, picking up the book and turning to a random page, reading a short little children's story, which happened to be one of Harry's favorites from when he was a child.

When he was finished, he closed the book, putting it back in its place on the shelf.

"I love that story." Harry told him.

"Give me my biscuit and then you can tell me how much you love that story." Louis joked.

Harry held the food up to Louis' mouth, and the slightly older boy took it from him, his lips brushing over Harry's finger briefly, causing the curly haired boy to bite his lip and turn away for just a moment.

He cleared his throat, "My big sister used to read me that story when I was about five or so."

"Yeah?" Louis asked him.

"Mhhm."

"I used to read it to my little sisters. It's a favorite of mine as well."

Harry smiled, and Louis turned around, facing the book shelf and pulling one off.

"Harry." Louis said, pulling a plain black book from the shelf. "I don't remember ever seeing this before."

"It's been here as long as I've worked here." Harry shrugged. "No one's ever touched it. I don't even know what's inside."

"It looks pretty old." Louis mused. "How could no one be interested in this? It's beautiful."

There was a sort of sadness in Louis' eyes that both warmed Harry's heart, and made him a bit sad himself.

Louis opened the book, flipping through the pages, "Oh, Harry. It's a poetry collection."

"Is it?" Harry asked, scooting closer to Louis, so that their sides were touching.

"Don't laugh at me, but I love poetry. Especially old poetry like this. It's all from the 1800's, Harry. Why hasn't anyone bought this yet? It's brilliant." He sighed sadly.

Harry looked at the book, and he felt a little sad as well. Why had no one bothered to look at this book and see what wonders it held? Was it just because it was plain black with no text on the cover? That had to be common with books from its era, didn't it?

"I'd never laugh at you for that." Harry shook his head. "Poetry is brilliant."

"Yeah?" Louis asked. "Most people make fun of me for it. Even my little sisters."

"I love poetry." Harry said, smiling softly. "In fact, want me to read you one? This book deserves a little attention, don't you think?"

"I'd love that, yeah."

"Okay. Let me find a good one here." Harry said, thumbing through the book. "Let's see if I can find one I've never read before."

He scanned the pages, knowing most of them, they were all classics really. But then he stumbled upon one that he himself had never read, and he decided to go ahead and recite it for Louis.

He cleared his throat before beginning.

"She walks in beauty, like the night  
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;  
And all that’s best of dark and bright  
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:  
Thus mellow’d to that tender light  
Which heaven to gaudy day denies."

Lightning lit up the sky outside, and thunder crashed loudly around them, and Louis jumped a little, and then scooted himself a little closer to Harry. Harry smiled a little bit at the warmth of Louis next to him and continued to read.

"One shade the more, one ray the less,  
Had half impair’d the nameless grace  
Which waves in every raven tress,  
Or softly lightens o’er her face;  
Where thoughts serenely sweet express  
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place."

The thunder cracked outside a little louder, shaking the building as the rain picked up, falling loudly onto the roof of the little shop, and Harry wrapped an arm around Louis on instinct, wanting to keep him safe. Louis didn't seem to mind, tucking his head in the crook of Harry's neck, his warm breath coming out in puffs.

"And on that cheek, and o’er that brow,  
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,  
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,  
But tell of days in goodness spent,  
A mind at peace with all below,  
A heart whose love is innocent!"

When Harry finished he heard a small sniffle, and then he felt a light wetness on his shoulder.

"Louis? Are you crying?"

"Don't make fun of me." Louis said, lifting his head from Harry's shoulder. "I didn't know that poem and it was sweet and I'm a little scared of storms, okay?"

He had rushed his words, and Harry could tell he was embarrassed. He reached up, wiping a tear from his cheek gently, and then he was struck with the sudden urge to kiss the older boy. And maybe if it had been a normal day at work and the sun was out and they were putting books on to shelves and talking about Harry Potter or their favorite Shakespeare plays, Harry would have stopped himself.

But this wasn't a normal day, and they were in a candle lit book shop with biscuits and love poems from hundreds of years ago and Louis' eyes were shining with tears, and so Harry didn't stop himself.

He leaned in slowly, giving Louis the chance to pull away, and when he didn't budge, Harry closed the space between them. He pressed his lips to Louis' gently at first, just sort of getting the feel of things. And then he was bringing his hands up to gently cup Louis' face, and he deepened the kiss just slightly, his lips pressing to Louis' a little more firmly, and Louis began to move his lips carefully against Harry's, and Harry moved his in perfect tandem with Louis', and Harry was pretty sure he'd never had a kiss feel quite so lovely as this one. And maybe it was the setting, but he was pretty sure it was just Louis.

He pulled away, his hands still resting gently on Louis' face, his eyes searching Louis', though for what he didn't know. After a moment, he went to move his hands away, but Louis' own hands came up, resting them atop Harry's to keep them in place, and then he was leaning in, kissing Harry again, and Harry smiled a little against Louis' lips, and Louis slipped his tongue out tentatively, running it along Harry's bottom lip. Harry opened his mouth, letting Louis wiggle his tongue inside, feeling around slowly, as if he were exploring.

After a few moments joined at the lips, Harry pulled back, his breathing slightly heavy, and Louis smiled at him shyly, biting his lip, and Harry had to hold back a little whimper at the sight.

"I've sort of been hoping you'd do that for ages." Louis said quietly, his hands dropping from Harry's turning away from him for a moment.

Harry wanted to scream, because he couldn't just say something like that and then turn away.

"Hey." Harry said softly, and Louis turned to look at him again. "I've sort of wanted to do that for ages."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

Louis scooted closer to Harry again, and snuggled up to his side, resting his head on Harry's shoulder.

They stayed like that until the wee hours of the morning, each of them taking turns talking about more personal things. Their families, their friends, their dreams. They told their coming out stories and their first kiss stories and at some point Harry's hand had made its way into Louis', their fingers intertwining, causing them both to smile brightly.

They read each other poetry, and Louis may have cried a few more times, but Harry promised not to tell and kissed his tears away, and Louis smiled back at him with an abundance of emotion in his eyes, and Harry hoped that this wouldn't all just disappear tomorrow when the sun came out and the rain stopped pelting down to earth.

At around two in the morning Louis yawned loudly, and Harry laid down on the hard wood floor, signaling for Louis to lie down on his chest, which he did, sighing happily. The thunder was still crashing loudly outside, and Harry rubbed Louis' back comfortingly until they had both drifted off to sleep.

The next morning Harry woke up to the sound of the little bell above the shop door jingling. Mr. Porter was on his way in and he chuckled.

"You two finally put good use to those heart eyes you've been sending each other for months?"

"What?" Harry asked.

Mr. Porter just chuckled again, "Wake him up and get to work as soon as you can."

"We got locked in last night, you know? Told you we didn't need that fancy new security system."

"I think it went to good use." Mr. Porter said, stepping into the small back room to get things ready for the day.

"Hey, Louis." Harry said gently, shaking the boy who was still resting on his chest. He grabbed onto Harry's shirt, his small hands bunching the fabric. "Lou, wake up, love."

"My neck hurts." Louis muttered.

"You think your neck hurts? I was lying on the ground." Harry grumbled.

"Thanks for letting me use you as a pillow." Louis smiled up at him, his eyes glossy with sleep.

"Anytime, Lou."

"Hey, about everything that happened last night." Louis said as he slowly sat up, stretching his neck out. "Does that...I mean, are we-"

"How about I take you out for tea after work tonight and we'll talk, yeah?" Harry grinned.

"Yeah." Louis breathed. "Sounds perfect."

"Told you the new alarm system would come in handy." Mr. Porter called, walking past them with a big box full of books.

"What...?"

"Just...don't ask." Harry said, shaking his head.

He leaned over, kissing Louis quickly on the cheek before helping him up so they could both get to work.

He had a feeling Mr. Porter would never be letting this go.


End file.
